Tailpan blackout on 69' tuxedo black SS396?

[LT12NV]

Did 1969 396 tuxedo black cars recieve the semi-flat paint on the rear tailpan? I got one at work i'm finishing up, and figure i'd check before pulling the trigger..

[tom]

http://www.camaros.org/exterior.shtml#BlackoutPaint

[Jerry@CHP]

This has been a topic of discussion with judges now for many years.  Many and myself have thought that the rear panels were a semi gloss black but from what I have seen over the past couple of years in the way of low-mileage original cars has shown that the rear panels were more of a gloss black but not a full gloss like an extior black.  Was just in Ohio two weeks ago and looked at the nicest original paint rally green SS396 Camaro I've ever seen.  6200 miles and the rear tail panel was almost a full gloss color. 

I"m in the process of updating my 1969 Camaro fact book and I am changing the data in the 4th edition to reflect an almost full gloss black.

Jerry

[Charley]

A orig owner of a black low mile orig paint LS6 Chevelle suggested that the tail panels and rockers were probably shot in gloss black but not polished or buffed at all. Food for thought.

[Mark]

Considering the tail panel, rocker blackout, and the rear half of the Z28  stripes were painted in the inline paint booth in the Fisher trim shop (at least in Norwood - there may be differences between NOR and LOS cars becasue of the plant configurations), after the car was painted whatever body color it is, that sounds possible.  The body had already been polished out before it arrived at the trim shop, would it have been polished again in the trim shop?  Just from an assembly line perspective I find it hard to imagine that the trim shop used Black gloss paint on the stripes (for cars with black rally stripes)  but then would switch guns (or paint formulas) to spray rocker and tailpanel blackout just to get a slightly less glossy finish on those items when finished.  It would seem you would want to have a minimum of colors and finishes available just to save time.

[tom]

Jerry,

Are you accepting orders for the new 1969 book?

Tom

[Flowjoe]

Did they actually buff out the paint on the production line (fisher or Chevy)?  I didn't thinkt hat American production cars of that era received buffing...am I wrong? 

[Mark]

Not really buffed, but color sanded and flowed out in an oven.

From the CRG assembly process article:

"Color System: The bodies were sequenced to "batch-paint" by color as much as possible, to minimize the waste of thinner required to clear paint guns between colors. The interior was masked off, the body exterior was tacked-off, and it then entered the first color booth, where it got three coats of acrylic lacquer, sprayed automatically with vertical and horizontal reciprocating spray guns, with a 3-minute "flash" between coats, followed by a 10-minute bake at 200F to "skin" the surface prior to sanding. In the next stage, any surface defects were power- and hand-wet-sanded with mineral spirits, then wiped off prior to entering the final "reflow" oven. This bake lasted 30 minutes at 275F, where the lacquer surface softened and "re-flowed" to a uniform gloss. The last process for a non-stripe car was the blackout booth, where the firewall was blacked-out, the trunk was sprayed with spatter paint, and sound-deadening undercoat material was sprayed in the rear wheelhouses. The rear "cocktail shakers" on convertibles were suspended in the trunk for spatter painting, but weren't bolted in place until later in the Trim Shop, after the taillights and marker lights were installed.

If the car required Z-28, Z-10, or Z-11 stripes or a black rear end panel or rockers, they were masked and sprayed in the in-line repair booth/oven system after the reflow oven, including the cowl vent panel; spoilers were painted and striped separate from the body and were installed before the body went back downstairs to the Trim Shop."

[JohnZ]

From the CRG assembly process article:

If the car required Z-28, Z-10, or Z-11 stripes or a black rear end panel or rockers, they were masked and sprayed in the in-line repair booth/oven system after the reflow oven, including the cowl vent panel; spoilers were painted and striped separate from the body and were installed before the body went back downstairs to the Trim Shop."

A minor edit for this paragraph of the Assembly Process Document is pending to clarify the spoiler striping process - it will read as follows:

"....spoilers were painted body color separate from the body, and were final-installed to the deck lid just prior to the repair booth. The rear window filler panel, deck lid and spoiler were masked and sprayed stripe color in the repair booth, and baked in the repair oven before the body went back downstairs to the Trim Shop."

As for buffing, it wasn't a normal part of the production paint process, but if an area was deemed to have inadequate gloss or excessive orange-peel on the Final Paint Inspection Deck (usually as a result of an in-line repair), it was buffed before the body proceeded to the Trim Shop.

[KurtS]

John,
What happened if a Z needed paint repair? Would it be run thru the repair booth twice (once for the repair, again for the stripes)?

[JohnZ]

John,
What happened if a Z needed paint repair? Would it be run thru the repair booth twice (once for the repair, again for the stripes)?

Yup, there was a conveyor spur after the repair oven that diverted the body off the main line and ran it back around on a loop for another trip through the repair booth and oven if necessary.

[jdv69z]

So were the ovens long? eg if needed oven time was 30 min, and conveyor speed was 2 ft/min, was the oven 60 ft long?

Jimmy V.

[JohnZ]

So were the ovens long? eg if needed oven time was 30 min, and conveyor speed was 2 ft/min, was the oven 60 ft long?

Jimmy V.

Paint Shop conveyor speed at 65 per hour and 15' job spacing was about 16 ft. per minute; the repair oven was shorter than the final reflow oven (about 20 minutes), so it was about 300' long. The main reflow oven was about 500' long.